Tesla CEO Elon Musk: It's Possible to Have Humans On Mars By 2026

Elon Musk, the multi-Billionaire CEO of companies’ SpaceX and Tesla Motors, said that he could feasibly land human beings on Mars by 2026.

The man widely considered to be a visionary and tech guru said, “I’m hopeful that the first people could be taken to Mars in 10 to 12 years, I think it’s certainly possible for that to occur, but the thing that matters long term is to have a self-sustaining city on Mars, to make life multi-planetary.”

Musk explained that his primary focus with regard to Mars was to bring, not just a few, but as many people as possible to the Red Planet.

He said in the CNBC interview that although his SpaceX company has to square off against defense contract titans such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin for the big NASA contracts, he remains optimistic and confident in his company.

Musk hoped that the U.S. would choose SpaceX’s Dragon V2 crew carrier as the next capsule to send astronauts to the international space station. He said, “It’s possible that we may not win the commercial crew contract. We’ll do our best to continue on our own, with our own money. We would not be where we are today without the help of Nasa.”